show you produce some love

We love vegetables here at Z&H. That said, there's no denying that we are much more likely to reach for greens and colorful produce when the greens are their leafiest and produce their brightest. With busy schedules making your produce last as long as possible at home by storing them properly is good money sense.

Broccoli -
Broccoli will last up to a week in your refrigerator. Tip, keep your broccoli heads wrapped loosely in a plastic bag in your vegetable drawer. Don't keep it in an airtight container, it will go bad faster.

Brussels Sprouts-
If the option is available, try to buy Brussels sprouts on the stalk. They will stay fresh longer on the stem, and can even last up to a month if kept in a cool, dry place. Trick, they will also last in your fridge for 7-10 days in a closed plastic bag to slow their respiration.

Chard & Spinach
Chard is best kept unwashed and dry in a sealed plastic bag or container in your refrigerator. A sturdy green like chard or kale will last up to two weeks, but more delicate greens like spinach will only last a week.

Garlic-
It is hard to use an entire head of garlic at once (not for everyone, but some) . Remember to keep them in a cool, open, dry place. Unpeeled garlic can last up to 3 months if properly stored. Trick, if your garlic starts to sprout green shoots, simply cut off the bitter green part before you start cooking.

Mushrooms-
Mushrooms can be difficult to store since they benefit from cool air circulation, but can also dry out or suffocate easily. Tip: store them in a paper bag in your fridge; they will last 3-5 days.

Tomatoes
You've probably heard never to refrigerate tomatoes and the reason is that your Fridge will rob them of any flavor. If you absolutely must refrigerate, let your tomato sit and return to room temperature before using, it will help restore any lingering flavor. Trick, if your tomato is under-ripe, try storing it in a paper bag stem side down for a few days to accelerate the ripening process. Storing them stem-side down will also help maintain that the taut skin of a healthy tomato. If your tomato is on its last leg, for goodness sake, make chutney or salsa.

file under Other Cool Stuff

Tidal Energy. Powerful, never ending, and perfectly clean.

"The Bay of Fundy pushes over 100 billion tonnes of water every tide - more than all the freshwater rivers and streams in the world combined."

www.fundyforce.ca

www.marineturbines.com

Now lets enjoy some cheese.

Crop Mob: A very cool concept

"Crop mob is primarily a group of young, landless, and wannabe farmers who come together to build and empower communities by working side by side. Crop mob is also a group of experienced farmers and gardeners willing to share their knowledge with their peers and the next generation of agrarians. The membership is dynamic, changing and growing with each new mob event."

read more about this fantastic movement here:

cropmob.org

Z&H and Kilgus Milk

We use Kilgus dairy products at the MarketCafe. They taste great and are a small scale local dairy. Here is some more information about them compared to others....

http://myfoodshed.com/2010/02/28/know-your-milk-know-your-dairy-part-2/

An interesting take on school gardens

Alice Waters is an icon in the restaurant world, but this is an interesting take on her "The Edible Schoolyard" (www.edibleschoolyard.org) program from The Atlantic (link: http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/201001/school-yard-garden).

We are already thinking about spring vegetables.

Snowy updates

We did get the keys to the new MarketCafe space on 57th Street this past week and we have begun the demo (very satisfying work, as the space had not been updated since the 1980's) and have our crack architect team (they are both local Hyde Parker architects, more about them in future posts) working to pull together plans that we can go to the City with for permitting. We have had to strange pleasure of shoveling the sidewalk in front of the new store the past couple of days.

We have also been making some changes to our product mix at the 1126 East 47th Street location, identifying and bring in additional excellent local and regional products. We also have a line of classic American made bitters coming soon. They have been on our training table since we were kids, and now we will be able to share them with everyone.

Newish Cheese

Dunbarton Blue is one of our latest cheeses here at Z&H, it is an earthy, cheddared-blue, open air cured, with essence of an English cheddar, and a subtle flavor of a fine blue cheese.

Our current wheel has very delicate veining but we understand this varies from wheel to wheel.

Not widely available yet, Dunbarton is named after a Wisconsin township and the cheese maker has been tinkering with the recipe for more than a year. He makes the cheese by hand in a small, 300-gallon artisan cheese vat in his small creamery between Shullsberg and Darlington. The dairy is renovating the original cave - surrounded by earthen walls on three sides with a rock wall foundation -- and plan to age the next batch on site.

Come in and try this subtle wonder.